Pacemakers, neuro-stimulation devices, drug pumps and other implantable medical devices (IMDs) are becoming increasingly common, particularly as the population ages. As the name implies, these devices are surgically or otherwise implanted within a patient to provide monitoring and/or therapy for cardiac, neurological and/or other conditions. A conventional pacemaker, for example, is a battery-powered device that applies electrical impulses to a patient's heart to stimulate contractions or “beats”. Neurostimulation devices similarly apply electrical impulses to various regions of the spinal cord or other neurologically sensitive regions to alleviate pain or to produce other beneficial effects in the patient. Other IMD therapies include intrathecal drug delivery provided by so-called “drug pumps” that deliver medication (morphine or baclofen, for example) through a catheter directly to an appropriate area, such as the area around the spinal cord. Because the medication is delivered directly to the appropriate region of the patient's body, the patient's symptoms can typically be controlled with a much smaller dose than would otherwise be prescribed with oral medication. Other types of implantable devices include defibrillators, various types of monitors, and the like.
As medical and computing technologies have progressed, IMDs have become capable of applying increasingly sophisticated and elaborate therapies, and of obtaining increasingly detailed information about the patient. IMD therapies can often be uniquely tailored to the particular needs of the patient, provided that adequate information is available while the device is being programmed. If the patient is present within a hospital or a physician's office, for example, adjusting the patient's therapy is a relatively straightforward process of adjusting device parameters (e.g. pacing parameters, drug dosage, etc.) in the IMD with a conventional device programmer. If the patient is not physically present at a treating facility with a suitable device programmer, however, adjustments to IMD programming can be a significant inconvenience. Some patients may need to travel significant distances, for example, and/or may need to appear at the treating facility on a frequent basis until proper parameters are programmed in the device. These trips to the treating facility are inconvenient to both the patient and to the caregiver. Although various systems exist for providing some remote programming functionality (see, for example, commonly assigned United States Patent Publication No. 2002/0123673, which is incorporated herein by reference), it is nevertheless desirable to improve the flexibility, accessibility, security and functionality of such systems.
It is therefore desirable to create systems and techniques capable of providing convenient programming updates to implanted medical devices without requiring the patient to be physically present at the same location as the caregiver that is programming the device. Moreover, it is desirable to create a technique for improving information provided to caregivers without significant effort by the patient. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.